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Friday, July 27, 2012

Follow Friday - Fave Required Reading

Follow Friday is a feature created by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It's a fun blog hop where you meet other book bloggers and find people to follow.

Question: Summer Reading. What was your favorite book that you were REQUIRED to read when you were in school?

I've actually enjoyed a LOT of required reading. However the answer is probably going to be the classic answer: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I'm not a particularly girly girl, romance just isn't my thing. Yet I love this book. At first I found the writing style frustrating to adjust to, especially the unattributed quotes. Then suddenly, halfway through (I think it's when Darcy and Elizabeth were at Lady Catherine de Bourgh's home) I couldn't put the book down. I was completely enthralled. By some weird twist of luck I've read it at least 3 times for different classes.

I actually like a lot of books I read for college. I majored in journalism, but that was a smaller major at my college and left me loads of time to take different classes. Most of my extra classes were English classes and I loved picking and choosing whatever I wanted. I could take American Novel or Multi-ethnic American literature, without taking the more difficult classes that were required for English majors (hence why I didn't minor in English). So I have a few honorable mentions.

Also I want to add that I was required to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for a math class. But since it was already a favorite before that class it seems unfair to use. If you're wondering why we read that, I think it was a way to help non-math people grades-wise in a required college class. I should probably mention that I loved that professor.

There are probably more books that I could list but unfortunately I didn't use Goodreads back in college. When you read as many books as I have, sometimes it's hard to remember. I also feel obligated to mention that college made me fall in love with Robert Frost poetry. When I was younger I thought it was just pretty words about nature. But when I studied his technique I was blown away and very annoyed at how most people oversimplify and trivialize his poems.

Also, in case you still haven't seen this series I wanted to share (again for my blog followers).

As long as you're in a following mood why don't you follow me on twitter! Though I'm going to warn you: I'm going to be talking a lot about the Olympics for the next couple of weeks.

I'm reading P&P for the first time. I feel about it like you did. Until the Darcy's proposal in the middle of the story, I was frustrated. Now, though, I'm quite enjoying it and can't wait to find out what happens. :)

As an education major, I didn't really have any required reading (aside from textbooks and articles) for my courses. All of my required reading took place in high school, and I really had quite a lot of them that I enjoyed.

I had to read A Lesson Before Dying in college and also really enjoyed it. I wish it had been required in high school. House on Mango Street is excellent! I've never read Pride and Prejudice, but I adore the movie with Kiera Knightley!Thanks for stopping by my blog. New follower.-Jenna @ Fans of Fiction

I first read P & P a few years ago, shortly after joining Goodreads. Someone suggested it. Didn't read it in college- and I was an English minor. My professor for this subject said something like: Austen was a minor writer because she wrote about little (domestic) issues. And her writing was simplistic with little or no deeper meaning- kind of an interesting view of Austen's time and class, nothing more than a snapshot in time. Little literary value and not worth wasting the time to read when there were so many important writers to cover. Yes, it was a male professor. Yes, he was older.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I took English classes in High School but only one made me read anything. Maybe if I was a English scholar and took those AP courses I would have had to read more..lol.

I love P&P, but I read it because of You Got Mail..lol. You know they talk about the book in the movie, so I thought..hmmm I will try it..lol. It was the same with Hamlet I watched a movie called Renascence Man and he tough Hamlet to some military people and it sounded very interesting so I tried it..LOL. See you don't need school just watch movies they make you read!! :)

I wasn't required to read P&P. Lizzie Bennet Diaries is what made me want to read it. Even though I couldn't get into it when I was in school, I'm reading it now and loving it!New follower!Carson @ Reader with VoiceMy FF

My husband, who is an English professor, just recently read Frankenstein for the first time (his focus is early modern and Renaissance, so he is excused) and he loved it so much that now he's going to be using it in one of his classes every year. I really need to read it, I guess.

I think I read Pride & Prejudice for an assignment. I know I read it again later. Some teachers are going to do Frankenstein this year -- some of them aren't very thrilled about it. I haven't read that one. Thanks for visiting.

thanks for stopping by my blog. I never could get into that older writing style myself, if someone would re-write the book in modern language and writing style, I may like it. But I also am not into girly, girl romances either, I need the danger, and supernatural stuff in my romance types, its why I like Paranormal romance, :)